This event is part of Forbidden Worlds Film Festival 2026. Visit www.forbiddenworldsfilmfestival.co.uk to see the full line-up as well as buy Weekend/Day Passes.

Dir: David Parker | Australia | 80 mins | Cert. 15

Italian ‘peplum’ (swords and sandals) films dominated the 1960s as Europe tried to compete with the spectacle of Hollywood blockbusters such as The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960), and Cleopatra (1963), albeit with cheaper and mixed results.

With so many weird and wonderful films set (loosely) in Biblical or classical antiquity, we were spoilt for choice when programming the festival - should we go with the epic Ulysses (1954) with Kirk Douglas, weird mythological horror Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) or the ‘Classical Avengers’ team up of Hercules, Samson and Ulysses (1963)....

Enter Hercules Returns, a loving send-up of the ‘peplum’ genre that began in the late 80s as a live comedy show from the Melbourne troupe Double Take, re-voicing B-grade masterpieces such as 1968’s The Astro-Zombies.

Think Mystery Science Theatre 3000… but with more Aussies.

Hercules Returns sees Brad McBain (Razorback’s David Argue), a frustrated employee of Australia’s largest cinema chain. Brad decides to quit his job and sets about re-opening the Picture Palace, a disused cinema in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, to show classic old films… thankfully, that’s where any similarities to Forbidden Worlds and the deserted former IMAX ends!

When an act of sabotage on the opening night sees their first film, the 1964 Italian film Samson and His Mighty Challenge, swapped out for a non-subtitled print!

As a desperate measure, Brad rallies his projectionist Sprocket (*Mad Max II’*s Bruce Spence) and publicist Lisa to improvise voice-overs (courtesy of the voice talents of the original Double Take team) for the entire film to avert disaster!

The film will be introduced by Dr Pete Falconer, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at the University of Bristol.